That would be interesting to see what will happen in the future.
Meanwhile, rumours from a similar article from "The Age" indicates that the new name could be "Virgin Australia".
I believe majority of members know that the name "Virgin" cannot be added as a name of the airline unless it has been approved by Singapore Airlines. If that rumour is true, then this change in VB may have to done a big deal with Singapore Airlines. (As SQ long regarded VB is a competitor)
That's what I
spectulate what would be the changes expected for Virgin Blue:
1. Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue and V Australia will wind up, with the new airline "Virgin Australia" being set up.
2. Interline agreement between Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines, further with codeshare or even joint venture agreement with Singapore Airlines for its Inter-Pacific and America routes. This could also include an extensive codeshare of domestic services by putting a SQ Code?
3. Krisflyer and Velocity will be linked together, that Krisflyer member can accur and use points on Virgin Flights, vice versa
4. Possible Acquisition of SQ's B772ER into Virgin Fleet? (Since SIA has a lot in excess and Virgin wants bigger aircraft?)
5. Introduction of Business Class and a progressive termination of low cost service (perhaps except free checked luggage) - This includes introduction of free refreshments and entertainment
Although Australians are being used to low cost model, however consider this code:
Quote:
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Barely a month since taking the helm, Mr Borghetti has signalled to investors that the airline no longer wants to slug it out with Qantas-owned Jetstar and Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger at the bottom end of the market.
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Further if they are changing to the premium model, it could help Tiger Airways further strengthen his share in Australian domestic market, which will benefit Singapore Airlines as well and I believe this could be enough to pursude SIA to give them a "Virgin" tag.
(Current Low Cost Model may make a lot of money for Virgin, however, from a perspective of a passenger, the add-on cost for taking Virgin is even more expensive than Qantas hence it could be a hurdle for Virgin's expansion) If Virgin is to adopt the full cost model, even we still have to pay for luggages, I will immediately dump Qantas and is not going to take it ever again.
6. Integration into Star Alliance, in line with the current position of VX and VS, also with its agreement with NZ.
Those above are just my spectulation/expectations, but I hope all of them will become true, as now VB could become a major opportunity for SQ.